


A Very Colorful Surprise

by jacquelee



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 02:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12901884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: Tilly prepares a surprise for Michael.





	A Very Colorful Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Lands_of_Magic](https://lands-of-magic.dreamwidth.org) on dreamwidth, for this [image prompt](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/566468459351612607/), a very colorful cake.

Tilly was nervous. She already knew Michael a little since they had been roommates for a few weeks now, but she was still not sure if this was truly a good idea. But after she had spent days thinking about it, tossing around idea after idea and discarding them quickly again, she had finally arrived at this one. 

And the timing seemed very right too, since Michael had been called to join an away mission which gave Tilly enough time and space to finish her project. But even while making the last few adjustments, the doubts clouded her mind again. What if Michael didn't even want to celebrate her birthday? 

Sure, she was human, but her upbringing had been Vulcan, and as far as Tilly knew, Vulcans did not celebrate birthdays at all. But then, Michael really needed some fun and some celebration after all they had been through. And it wasn't like Tilly was planning a surprise party with a lot of people, she had considered that but already discarded it as a bad idea. 

No, this was much simpler and just a little something that was supposed to put a smile on her roommate's face, who often seemed to carry the weight of the whole galaxy on her shoulders and had far too little to smile about. 

Now, the last few details were taken care of, the only thing Tilly had to do was wait for Michael to arrive, which should happen any moment now. 

Hearing the familiar sound of the doors to their quarters opening, Tilly straightened up, a big grin on her face and eagerly awaited what Michael would say. 

Which for a few seconds was nothing. She came in, as always tired and weary and stopped dead when she saw Tilly's creation standing on the small table in the middle of their room. Michael frowned and for a few seconds Tilly was afraid she didn't like the surprise, that Tilly indeed had made a mistake here, just as her doubts had been telling her.

"Happy birthday! I hope you like it. I made it myself, I wanted to do something for you, so that you could have something pretty and nice for your birthday. I mean, I don't know if you would even want it, I don't know if Vulcans celebrate birthdays, I don't think they do, but you're human and birthdays are really important, and I just thought maybe you wouldn't mind…"

Tilly trailed off, as always deeply concerned by Michael's look that seemed to bore directly into her brain. She knew it didn't necessarily mean that Michael was angry or that she had done something wrong, but she was still not used enough to it to shrug it off and it just made her more nervous. 

She took a deep breath to start talking again when Michael held up one hand. Tilly stopped in her tracks, not sure what to do. Finally, Michael started talking. 

"How did you know?"

Tilly exhaled. Well, that at least was easy. 

"I didn't pry or anything, I just saw it in your service record, I mean, I'm pretty sure everybody knows, it's just that they don't really care, but I do. But if you don't want me to, I can just take it away, no problem, I understand that, I did too much again, I just thought it would be nice but that's me, I always-" 

"Tilly." 

"Yes. Sorry. Rambling." 

Michael seemed to need a few more moments to consider what was standing in front of her. She stepped a little closer to the table and examined it with the same curiosity that Tilly knew from her studying alien species. 

"What is it?"

"It's a cake! I baked it. I love baking, it always clears my mind." 

"You can eat this?" 

"Oh yes! Don't worry, I specifically had the computer make only healthy, nutritious ingredients. It's all in accordance to the best diet for future captains." 

Tilly's grin had returned and now she was looking expectantly at Michael, who still frowned at the cake but less so than before, assumingly approving of the cake meeting dietary requirements. 

Tilly decided to give her time since there was truly a lot to see here, from the bottom layer covered in blue fondant bordered with halves of cupcakes, then the next layer, supported by ice cream cones, bordered with a line of colorful beads, covered in green and white fondant and topped with lollipops. 

Then came the last layer, supported by pillars (edible, of course), also bordered with lines of beads and covered in light blue fondant, topped with even more and bigger lollipops. All in all, it was a piece of art, one that Tilly was very proud of. She had always loved designing cakes and baking them, it helped her concentrate and relax at the same time. 

"Who is going to eat all of this?" 

Tilly's grin faded a little. 

"I… I don't know. I hadn't thought about that." 

Michael cocked one eyebrow in her direction and then looked back at the cake with a look that made Tilly start to feel quite miserable. This was not at all going according to plan. 

But then Michael looked at her again, her frown all but gone and with what seemed to be the beginning of a smile on her face. 

"Maybe we could bring it to the mess hall. Share it with the others." 

Tilly slumped her shoulders in relief. 

"Yes. That's a good idea. I just didn't want to do that in the first place because I didn't know if you would want it so public, you know, a party and all that. I didn't want to intrude." 

Michael cocked an eyebrow again but now the sides of her lips definitely showed signs of going upwards. 

"Well then, let's see how we can transport this masterpiece." 

Turning around, Michael busied herself with looking for some transport container or some other way to get the cake safely to the mess hall and after a few seconds of stumped silence, Tilly did the same, the grin on her face bigger than ever. 

Masterpiece. She had called it masterpiece! 

"Tilly?" 

It was said very quietly and when Tilly turned around, she realized Michael was not looking at her. 

"Yes?" 

"Thank you." 

With Michael's back still turned to her, Tilly couldn't see if she smiled, but it wasn't important. What was important was that her plan had worked, at least to some degree. And that was all that counted. 

"No problem, roomie."


End file.
